To be sure, Apple Store sales continue to be the envy of other retailers. It raked in $5,971 per square foot in 2012, up 17% from the $5,098 per square foot the year before, according to retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners. By comparison, Tiffany & Co. had sales of $3,453 per square foot in 2012, and popular yoga-clothes retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. pulled in $2,464 per square foot last year. However, even Apple’s metrics in this arena have begun to fall, Customer Growth Partners says. So far this fiscal year, sales per square foot have fallen to $4,542, down 4.5% from $4,754 the same time a year earlier.

So the gist of this story is that Apple Stores, despite remaining the most profitable per square foot in the world, by a long shot, are faltering due to a lack of leadership and Apple needs to change them somehow.

Is not the simpler explanation for the 5 percent drop in sales last quarter, from the year ago quarter, that last year Apple had debuted the first retina iPads in this quarter, and this year they haven’t had a major new product introduction in nine months?